Huh. 20 years. That’s how long I’ve been using Linux as my primary OS. I hadn’t actually thought about how long that’s been the case until now.
i wasn’t even born back then
Yeah its about the same for me, I started using Linux in earnest around 1997 when the local data magazine distributed Red Hat 4.2, but switched to using it full time around 2003.
For me it was 2003. Debian Woody. On an EasyBytes CDROM. That I paid 5 dollars for. Replaced Windows 98. The boost to the usability of that computer was insane.
Funny, that’s how ling I’ve been using Linux too. It turned into a very lucrative career too, so there’s that I guess.
This is currently me and my dad who’s been a Linux sysadmin for over 20 years.
Wholesome af
My first install was around 1994 or so. I downloaded 18 hd floppies from Slackware over my university’s dialup. I loved that I didn’t have to run winsock to use the internet anymore.
I ended up with 33 3.5’s in my first slackware install, probably '94. You always knew how many because you had to write 01/33, 02/33 etc. in case you dropped the stack. Uudecoding all that from usenet was heckish. I remember being so happy getting bsdi on a cd-rom the first time you really appreciate the cd’s after swapping floppies for hours.
8 years on Linux, and I sure as hell am not as enthusiastic as I was, but that freed me from the distrohopping curse.
Since 2 months I ditched completely win10 for Linux mint to become my main OS. It ain’t much, but am very happy.
Welcome!
My girlfriend sent me a picture of her running her first Linux commands yesterday (she had to run a script to connect her Linux Mint laptop to a network). I almost cried 🥲
Since 2005 here.
I’ve used Arch as my primary for a year or so. It had KDE and was configured badly. I’ve switched to Artix with s6 as init a few weeks ago. Am using Hyprland as WM. I’ve finally configured it the way I want. It’s perfect.
14 years here as my only OS :) Well, except for running XP in a virtual machine for an old game my partner wanted to play.
Can someone point me to some linux distros to try as a new user? I’m going to consider dual booting as I still need Windows for the main game I play. But I wanna see if I can get into cyber security on my own. I’m planning on trying to get a list to try out in some VM’s
I would try Linux mint as its the easiest to learn and use. I still use a Linux mint VM in my homelab
Thank you, I’ve heard of that one before. I’ve seen it a few times when I used to be subscribed here. I thought it was a more advanced one.
Its also important to note that most distros are fundamentally the same. You can run Cinammon on Fedora for instance.
Is cinnamon just the desktop environment?
Do you mean you can just swap DE’s and get pretty much the same feeling? I was always under the impression they were all different. I don’t even really understand the different between Ubuntu and debian.
So a desktop is the interface you use your computer with. Most Desktops come with things like a file manager and a windows manager (the thing that manages the placement of windows)
The difference between Ubuntu and Debian is that Ubuntu is based on Debian. Its been modified but it has the same base. I don’t like Ubuntu as they are pushing snaps really hard and its harming the user experience.
Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu. However, its much more user friendly and features a desktop with apps that can handle every aspect of you system. It doesn’t come with snaps and has flatpak enabled along with native packages.
If you aren’t understanding that isn’t a big deal as Linux mint has a easy installer.
If you need more help come check out my Linux questions sub. !Linuxquestions@lemmy.zip
So, it’s just best to experiment with multiple desktops? I read through mint’s page about different versions, which I understand what they were talking about with the different desktops.
So, it’s pretty much all the same? Except debian and Ubuntu use different software distribution stuff?
Also, before I asked this question, I found a website that listed different distro’s and what they were best for, weirdly. They mentioned nothing about Mint. Nut they did say, parrotOS, which, I’ll be honest, I’m not too sure about the different between that and Kali, but I’ll get there. Probably.
They also list : Kodachi, pop!OS, and Nitrux, but with the possible exception of pop, I haven’t heard of the other two. (They listed more, but they were the ones I decided to look into. Again, before asking.)
Most of those websites are crap. You should ignore them. Check out distrowatch for more information.
Sorry to say I didnt get into it earlier like some folks here, although I could have. My computing experience started with MSDOS and Windows 3.11, and didn’t start using Linux until I installed Mandrake Linux with KDE in college in 2002. Back then, shit was pretty rough though. Getting XFree86 running was an adventure in itself sometimes. What drew me to it was the ability to do things like quickly deploy a fully featured web server with scripting and database for next to no cost and using it like a developer’s playground. Things I’d be spending thousands in licensing fees for in Windows.
At first I was SSHing into my server from Windows to work on files, but eventually I just installed the full Linux GUI on my desktop as well, so I could use all the cool tools there too.
Back then, shit was pretty rough though.
Bro no kidding… You’d install and hoped your keyboard worked by the end of it.
I stuck with it though… Well over 20 years for me now.
EDIT: I actually remember digging through dbus configs one time for HOURS because I couldn’t get my mouse working. No joke I realized at like 3am it wasn’t plugged in. Hahah… It was such a pain in the ass back then you just assumed it was something insane.
Since Solaris. Wait…
